Who Believes in Curses Anyway?
by Onigiriareyummy
Summary: Lyssa Shepard was fine with the way her life ended. At least this time she wasn't the survivor. But she was brought back and now with the help of an old friend, the time has come to prove to herself that curses only have power if you let them.
1. Chapter 1

Hi everyone! Just a little background info on my girl Lyssa here: Adept/ Paragrade/ Colonist/ Sole Survivor------Wrex: survived, Ashley: saved, Rachni Queen: Released, Council: Saved, Councilor Chosen: Anderson. That about covers the basics, a more comprehensive character summary can be found in my profile. I hope you all enjoy the world of Mass Effect 2 as seen through the eyes of my character Lyssa Shepard!

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_I saved them didn't I? Joker, Ash, Liara, Wrex, Tali, Garrus... I saved you right..._

Lyssa Shepard's vision was quickly fading to black, she still hopelessly struggled to patch the hole in her suit, the secondary seals failing to activate. Her muscles were on fire, her brain starting to shut down, but she was still aware enough to see the fleeing forms of the Normandy's escape pods. Each and every one accounted for.

_Ah. They made it...At least I could do that much._

She took her last breath. She stopped struggling. Yes, she was scared. Yes, the Reapers were still coming. But in her very last moments Lyssa Shepard was able to take some selfish solace in the fact that, this time, she wouldn't have to watch those she cared about die. They were the survivors this time. A small, very small relief. She closed her eyes as a tear fell down her pale cheek, her eyes never to reopen, and she drifted down, silently down, to the planet below.

_I wonder...will I see them all again...Mother, Father, Kaidan...Will you be there...._

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Light! Pain! Lyssa began to struggle, trying to bring up her arms to cover her eyes. It was just too bright! She felt a hand grasp her arm and gently push it down.

"Shepard, don't try to move. Just lie still. Try and stay calm" A feminine voice, a bit accented, full of cool authority with a heavy dose of concern. Another voice, a male one, began to converse with the woman, but she couldn't focus. Her heartbeat pounded in her ears- too fast, far too fast- along with the sound of her breathing- quick and heavy with panic- she felt like she was about to die all over again.

"Give her another dose!" Something cool raced through her veins and her body began to calm, her eyelids became heavy with the promise of oblivion once again. A woman's face, close to hers, she wanted to speak, to tell her...

_Not again. Please, don't send me back to that dark place..._

But it was too late, the world became black once again.

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"Wake up, Commander!

That voice made her mind start it's sluggish swim back to consciousness.

"Shepard, Do you hear me?"

Vibration shook her body, aiding to dispel the haze one finds themself in after being asleep for a _very_ long time.

"Shepard. Get out of that bed now! This facility's under attack!"

Her clear grey eyes snapped open. Oh man, who knew just opening your eyes could hurt, she stretched her jaw, her skin feeling unusually tight and brittle- like she was made up of nothing but fresh scar tissue.

"Shepard, your scars haven't healed, but I need you to get moving, this facility's under attack," she winced as she sat up, her hand going to her side. Every muscle was tight, rigid.

_Easy for you to say..._

Her eyes focused uneasily on the giant window above her on the other side of the room. Explosions, gunfire, screaming. Yep, this seemed familiar enough.

"There's a pistol in a locker of the other side of the room along with your armor. Hurry!" She slid stiffly off the table on limped her way to the locker. Standard issue heavy pistol, no thermal clip of course, and a nice set of standard N7 armor. Since the nagging voice had mentioned it earlier she decided to take the time to don it. She was quick, and maneuvering her way into the stiff armor plates let her muscles warm up and come back to life, she stood up straight and sighed. Lyssa may have had no idea what was going on, but it was good to feel the weight of her armor pressing against her skin, the heaviness of a pistol in her hand, and the comforting buzz of the element zero nodes that ran along the length of her nervous system.

_An empty pistol and my biotics to get me through this eh? _She smirked as the door behind her blew apart and she could hear the creaking and grinding of mechs beyond. _I like those odds. _She shook herself from thought and began to run, briefly stooping to grab a thermal clip off of a corpse. _Yes, I think today just might be my lucky day._ For, if nothing else, she was alive and nothing was going to take that from her again, at least not today.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: The Archangel.

_Enemy in the scope. Fire. Enemy neutralized. Enemy in the scope. Fire. Enemy neutralized. Enemy in the scope. Fire. Enemy neutralized._

Garrus sat back from his preferred sniping position and sighed. He couldn't keep this up much longer. He knew it, and the damn mercs knew it as well. He looked around the empty room, the ghosts of his squad haunting every corner, he could almost hear them whispering in the silence. Garrus caught himself wishing that the Blue Suns would send out another wave of freelancers- at least they were interesting, Eclipse's mechs and the Blood Pack Vorcha were far too easy, they moved too predictably and it was child's play to pop off a headshot. The freelancers at least moved around in unpredictable patterns.

_Maybe it's because they're mostly humans...hmm..._

Though, at this moment, he wasn't all too picky about what they sent. Anything was better than being left alone with the shades of his deceased comrades. Hell, at this point he was just waiting for them to finish him off, but he was going to do his best in taking down as many of the bastards as he could before he was finally overwhelmed. Garrus looked wistfully at his sniper rifle and was suddenly struck with a wave of nostalgia so strong that he soon found himself slipping into the warmth of his memories...

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_He heard her quiet footfalls as she approached him from behind- she was such a slight thing that she barely made a sound even on the unforgiving metal of the cargo bay. He turned and was greeted by a very familiar face. Strange to think that the small, soft, pale creature in front of him was the sole survivor of Akuze, the first human Spectre and the savior of the Citadel. But he had seen her in action- not only a powerful biotic but a good shot too- and she was ruthless in battle. Geth, asari commandos, husks, and even RACHNI, nothing got in her way that didn't soon regret it. But she was more than just an excellent soldier- she actually cared about people. She'd gone out of her way to save the citizens_ _of Zhu's Hope, help Tali with her Pilgrimage, talk down the krogan when nothing else would get through to him_, _and_ _help him tie up a very annoying loose end- known as Doctor Saleon _-_convincing him to reapply for Spectre training once the threat of the Reapers had been neutralized-. She was his hero, his mentor, and his friend._

"_Shepard? Is there something I can help you with?" He could tell by her tense body posture that she was going to ask him something vaguely uncomfortable. One of her small, pale hands pushed her short, unruly black hair behind her ears._

"_Well, I'm impressed with your abilities with a sniper rifle, and umm..." He watched with faint amusement as she put her thoughts together. "I was thinking, if checking out this planet turns into another dead end, like all the others have, that while we're planet-side you could show me how to use it..." Ah. That was why she was embarrassed, he knew that biotics like Shepard were limited to basic pistol and SMG training in the Alliance military, but she was a person who really didn't like to admit the limits to her abilities. He waited to give her his affirmative answer for a few brief moments, enjoying this human reaction of 'blushing', he didn't know why, but he took some pleasure in flustering her. To her credit, she didn't back down, she was waiting as patiently as she could for his answer._

"_Yes, I think that would certainly be do-able." Her expression brightened and she smiled- a human gesture he was really starting to see the appeal of._

"_Thank you Garrus, now I have something to look forward to... Well, I'd better get back to the bridge, we're going to be getting close to our destination soon." She turned and walked to the elevator- a small pang of sadness hitting him when she left. He wrote it off as quickly as it came. But he too, was looking forward to a little one-on-one sniper rifle training._

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He shook himself from his daydreaming. Just what he needed, one more ghost to haunt his steps.

At least he had the feeling that she was a friendly ghost..._What was it that Williams had called it...a Guardian Angel, yes that was it._ He liked to think that if her spirit was lingering about him at all that was what she would be.

_A guardian angel for the Archangel... I really wouldn't envy her that position._

Garrus was snapped from his musings by the sounds of movement coming from behind the enemy lines_. _He took up position_, _gauging this new wave of enemies through his scope. Freelancers again. A few of these new ones looked interesting at the very least. He sniped off one of the duller-looking ones, waiting to see if he could scare off some of the stupid kids that had inevitably signed up for this job- if they ran he let them_. _He surveyed the bridge looking for his next target. A flash of black and red caught his eye as it disappeared behind a tall crate, taking cover from his shots. A small, dark-haired head popped out, her hands directing two other humans - a man of very dark complexion and a woman clothed in white- to cover in front of her.

He almost dropped his rifle.

_No. It can't be. It just can't be._

He put his eye back on the scope just in time to see her moving for low cover in the center of the bridge , giving himself a chance at some sort of hope, he fired a concussive round at the hallucination he was sure he was having- just in case the apparition was in some way actually _her_...

He watched it smack her square in the shoulder- it knocked her back but she was still _there._ Garrus zoomed the scope in- Black hair, pale skin, large grey eyes that changed color depending on the light...it was definitely her. He didn't have the luxury of time in order to try and think of any explanation as to why or how she was here, but he let her appearance rekindle a little spark of hope within his heart.

That spark changed into a fully-fledged inferno as he watched her shoot a singularity right into his enemy's flank, her companions finishing off the job she'd started with shotgun and SMG rounds.

Garrus snapped back to his senses, a fire lit within him driving him to survive. He had to see her again. He had to talk to her again. The cool, calm, authoritative voice. He started laying down suppressive fire behind her, watching her back.

_Just like old times..._


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Reunion

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_Ow. That's gonna leave a mark..._

Lyssa winced as the cocncussive shell blasted her shields- the force of it knocking her back a little. She quickly ducked behind the crate she had been darting to when ,what she presumed to be Archangel's, shot smacked her.

_I can see why the Illusive Man wanted us to recruit this guy, he's one hell of a shot. Strange thoug_h, _if he thinks I'm just another merc,_ _that he would fire a concussive round._ _If he had me in his sights why didn't he just shoot me..._

It's not as if she wanted him to shoot her, she was here to help him after all, but still it was strange.

Rubbing her shoulder, she checked Miranda and Jacob's position. They had to execute this maneuver flawlessly if they wanted to clear the path to their target cleanly and quickly. Miranda nodded at her and Lyssa popped out from her protected location and felt the nodes under her skin pleasantly buzz as she released a surge of dark energy in the form of a singularity right into the middle of the infiltration team. Miranda and Jacob smoothly slid out from cover and dealt with the trapped individuals. Flawless.

_Wait...there's someone..._

She turned just to see a merc who had crept up behind her's head explode. Her eyes darted up to the target's sniping perch, she couldn't see him, but he had just saved her some possible damage, that was a good sign. Lyssa caught up with her squadmates.

"C'mon let's go meet this Archangel..."The two Cerberus agents nodded and quickly went inside, still cautious of course- they might have missed a merc or two and they still didn't know what to expect from the vigilante holed up on the second floor.

They came into the room, guns drawn. Lyssa's eyes immediately went to the sniper.

"Archangel?" He held up one of his talons and looked back out to the bridge, easily taking out another piece of cannon fodder.

Lyssa cocked an eyebrow and slowly lowered her weapon. She took the chance to examine this mystery turian a little more closely. It was easy to tell he was exhausted, she doubted that he would have used his rifle to push himself up otherwise- snipers seemed to treat their rifles better than people sometimes- and she could almost hear his bones creak as he stood.

He took off his helmet as he approached. Lyssa had to try very hard not to let her jaw drop, she hadn't thought that of all the turians in the galaxy that she would have met the only one she actually _knew_. Her mind raced and she felt a surge of anger shoot up her spine.

_That bastard! He must have known who Archangel was. "Garrus Vakarian disappeared a few months after your death" Suuuure he did_. _Lying son of a bitch_. _No wonder he doesn't meet people in person, if I had the chance I'd beat the shit out of him._

Garrus sat slowly, propping his rifle in front of him. He just looked so tired. She felt a little stab of guilt, she should have gotten here sooner. The scientist could have waited, if she had just known just how bad things were for her friend...

"Shepard." His voice snapped her out of her self-destructive anger/guilt spiral. Lyssa couldn't help but notice how his head hung when he continued. "I thought you were dead." Without warning the excitement that had been slowly building at seeing a familiar, friendly face bubbled up.

"Garrus!" She flung her arms out. "What are _you_ doing here?" A smile tugged at her lips, but the gravity of the situation they found themselves in put a little damper on her giddiness.

"Just keeping my skills sharp. A little target practice." Something about the tone of his voice and the way his eyes looked into the distance- it was almost like he wasn't in the present at all- made her worry.

"You okay?" _Dammit, of course he's not okay. What else can I say though? "Sorry I didn't come sooner, I was busy tracking down a salerian doctor who has a serious case of ADD, and though I knew about your situation I figured you could wait." Yeah, that'll make him feel better._

"Been better," his eyes briefly flicked up to meet her own, "but it sure is good to see a friendly face." Garrus's eyes looked back down, towards the ground. "Killing mercs is hard work. Especially on your own." Lyssa bit back the desire to place a comforting hand on his shoulder, she had heard a little about what had happened to his squad, but now was neither the time or place for comforting gestures. Though she did want to make him perk up a little, not only would it make her feel better, but it had some sound strategic value.

"You gotta tell me, how exactly _did_ you manage to piss off every major merc organization in the Terminus Systems?" It warmed her to hear the almost inaudible rumble, it was more just feeling the disturbance of the air more than anything, that she recognized as his almost-chuckle.

"It wasn't easy." His tone perked up a little, he was still tired, but at least he seemed more like the Garrus she remembered. "I _really_ had to work at it. I am amazed they teamed up to fight me. They must _really_ hate me." Lyssa smirked and walked towards the window opening facing the bridge.

"Well, we got here. I don't think it'll be as easy to get back out again." Garrus stood up and nodded his head in agreement. He looked her in the eye for once, the emptiness she had seen being filled with anticipation of the task at hand- and for once she didn't get the feeling that he was looking at some sort of ghost whenever his gaze darted in her direction.

"No, it won't. That bridge has saved my life...funneling all those witless idiots into scope." He turned to look out over the bridge. "But it works both ways. They'll slaughter us if we try to get out that way."

"So we just sit here and wait for them to take us out?"Miranda, who had been mercifully quiet for all of the former exchange, had finally spoken up. From her tone she obviously didn't like the sound of _that _idea.

_Not that I can really_ _blame her but still..._

"It's not all that bad." Garrus shook his head a little and walked a little closer to his original sniping position, turning his back to the three humans. "This place has held them off so far. And with the three of you..." He turned to face Shepard. "I suggest we hold this location, wait for a crack in their defenses, and take our chances." Lyssa nodded her agreement. Not much of a plan, but it was better than anything she could come up with in this situation.

_Hell, we've gotten through worse with less...right?_

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Writer's Note: Just wanted to say a quick "Thank you" to all of you reading my story and to all of my fellow fangirls and boys over at the bioware Garrus Love forums, if it wasn't for you guys I never would have gotten up the courage to write anything all, so, THANK YOU!!!!!!

Gah is it me or did this seem like a reeeeeeeeeally long chapter . . I promise the next one will have more Garrus-y goodness! I think from now on I'll try to refrain from using the game script so much, it's just that I thought it was an important moment to be able to "see" from the internal perspective of the character. Hopefully I can get the next chapter up sometime today ^_^ but my fingers need a break haha.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Alive

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_And things had been going so well..._

In just under an hour, Garrus Vakarian had felt he had been saved, brought back from the brink, and his idol, back from the dead and good as new, had managed to do what he never had with both with his squad and alone. That one human woman had managed taking out two of the biggest merc bosses on Omega he had been hunting for the better part of a year, and saving his ass on top of that, should have hurt his turian pride. It didn't. As soon as he had accepted that the Shepard in front of him was alive and breathing, for the first time in days, hell, since she had been spaced, he felt that things were finally going to go right.

Yet, here he was. Sprawled on the ground, lying in a pool of his own blood. His face numb from the extensive injuries it had sustained; he only wished his body would do him the same courtesy. The sounds of battle were faint, though he was sure that the fighting was taking place virtually on top of his corpse...

_I really shouldn't be thinking of myself as a corpse...Oh, well...I never was one to think positively...Not anymore at least._ _I almost feel_ _sorry for Tarak, I imagine this little development isn't sitting all too well with the last woman in the galaxy you want to piss off..._

He didn't know just how right he was. It wouldn't be until later, much later, that he would learn just how much Tarak gunning him down had affected the Commander. Even months later Miranda still spoke of it with a quiver of fear in her voice.

"_She was like a demon..."_

There was a human saying, 'When you die your entire life flashes before your eyes' Garrus would have to disagree. What he saw as his eyes closed ,for what he presumed was the last time, were memories of things he thought best left forgotten.

_Laughing. There was always a surprising amount of laughter among their ranks. Yes, most had lost a loved one to the gangs of Omega, it was what had bound them together, but the comradery they had with one another was almost worth the cost- at least it had made those who had left them behind easier to forget. The majority of them were sitting on the couches laughing themselves silly at Sidonis, the newest member, who had been the ire of his superiors in the military, but his mishaps made for some very entertaining stories-the man had the luck of the devil as one of the human members put it._

"_Okay, okay. Enough laughing at Sidonis. Who next?" Sidonis looked from person to person, waiting for a volunteer."Fine I guess I get to nominate someone then..." They all tried to make themselves small-no one had the confidence that they could top Sidonis being chased around naked by a varren. "I know! Hey, Garrus!" The turian in question turned to look at him from his perch at the windowsill" You served with that human, Commander Shepard, right? The savior of the Citadel? What was she like?"He trailed off, finally catching on to the suddenly tense atmosphere in the room._

_They all knew that he didn't like to talk about her, even almost two years later that wound was too fresh. But Sidonis was new and he was feeling a bit nostalgic tonight for some reason. So where he would have usually gone silent and stalked away, he stood and faced his team._

"_She was..." He paused, how could a woman like that be summed up in words alone? "She was strong, smart, kind, and, above all else, she was brave. In situations where any other person would have fled, or given up, she stood her ground and charged ahead; inspiring everyone around her to do the same." The silence in the room was palpable- no one had ever been able to get more than a grunt out of him when it came to Shepard. They were enraptured. Garrus chuckled to himself._

"_Though you wouldn't have known it by looking at her- she was a flimsy thing, even by human standards. She never let that hold her back though. I never thought I'd see anyone stupid enough to try and talk down an angry krogan, especially a centuries-old battlemaster like Wrex. But she did it, left the encounter without a scratch, and that same krogan..." Garrus felt himself getting choked up, but he just cleared his throat and continued on,"... was the only one who openly wept for her when she was lost." He stopped himself right there. Any more and he thought he would splinter into a million pieces. The emotions associated with Shepard's death- anger, regret, guilt, sadness- were still raw._

"_If you'll excuse me..." He swiftly walked towards the door, very much wanting to be alone. Alone with the whispers of a dead woman in his mind._

He felt himself slipping away, the pain in his body subsiding, replaced by a seeping cold that chilled even his very soul to the core_. _It would be easy, oh so easy, just to let himself slip into the eternal abyss of death_._ Something was nagging him, making him cling to life.

_What is it? What is it I can't leave behind?_

A vague picture formed in his mind of a very familiar human face and figure_, _contorted in ways he couldn't have imagined_, _on a day he wished he could have forgotten. He nearly had, but he needed to remember this dark moment- he needed to remind himself of why he needed to stay.

_It was quiet in the cargo bay, that was why he had sought it out. The entire crew was down- Virmire had been a mess- and Shepard had been forced to make a choice that reminded him why he never quite cared for the responsibilities of command. He was still surprised at her choice however; it had made sense from a cost/benefit point of view, but he-and most of the crew- had been under the impression that Alenko and Shepard had been forming some sort of relationship._

_Maybe the galaxy was wrong, maybe all not all humans thought with their emotions first and then asked their brain for a second opinion._

_No sooner had the elevator doors opened, he heard the sound of very heavy objects being slammed onto the floor. Garrus tensed and put up his guard; something wasn't right. He slowly walked towards the crew's lockers- keeping alert for any sudden movement. What he saw as he silently approached Gunnery Chief William's station rocked him to his very core._

_He didn't immediately recognize the human-shaped heap on the floor as Shepard; she just looked so small and weak. It wasn't until she lifted her head and he got a good look at her face and her blood-shot, hollow, empty eyes that he recognized her._

_In the span of a single human heartbeat he immediately understood three things about the woman in front of him and himself: First; though she was strong, she was also brittle and fragile like glass, and could be shattered if treated carelessly. Second; that the day's events had broken her-though she would never show it outwardly to anyone willingly- and she was scrambling to pick up what pieces of herself she had left . Thirdly; That he wanted to hold her, comfort her, help her pick up the shards of her shattered heart and soul and keep them safe. Keep her safe. To protect this sad, lovely, lonely creature before him from harm he would pay any cost._

Lyssa knelt at Garrus's side. She was convinced that he was dead, but that didn't keep her from hoping for a miracle as she gently laid a hand on his side.

_I won't leave her behind. I won't be the cause of her suffering. I refuse!_

Garrus's eyes shot open and he inhaled his first breath in what felt like a lifetime. He heard her call his name, and his hand instinctively curled around the barrel of his sniper rifle, and he barely noticed when they flipped him over onto his back_. _Though he tried_, _there was no way he could focus on a word any of them were saying, but he heard Shepard's voice and he felt her hand on his chest. That was enough. Enough to let him know he was alive.

_ I'll stay alive for you.  
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	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Dreams

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_9 hours until Purgatory...seems like forever._

Shepard sighed as the galaxy map closed and took a sip of her tea. She knew how to be patient- you had to when travel took hours, even days, from port to port- that didn't mean she had to like it. She carefully walked off the platform; she had learned from experience that she had a talent for spilling hot drinks on herself. One of her favorite new additions to the crew, Yeoman Kelly Chambers, looked up as she approached.

" I heard our new turian crew member is already back on his feet. I hope he'll be alright, that was quite an ordeal he's been through." Lyssa sighed. She knew far too well just how much of an ordeal it had been...

_The shuttle was tight, giving her an almost overwhelming sense of claustrophobia. If it had been any other trip she would have been fidgeting, not this one though. There were far more important things weighing on her mind_. _Sure, the medi-gel was doing its job_ _but she knew she had to keep talking to Garrus, keep him awake,_ _if his eyes closed there was a very strong chance they would never open again._ _That was one thing she could NOT allow._

_She talked about light-hearted things; the arm wrestling match with Wrex (It had ended in a tie), Liara and the varren that had followed her around like a love-sick puppy on Feros the last time they had stopped in to port, the huge black eye Udina had sported for the better part of two weeks from_ _Anderson clocking him in the face_. _Garrus couldn't talk back, but she knew he was aware of her presence, she held one of his hands in hers and ,every so often, he would squeeze it in response to her pained smile._ _Almost like he was the one comforting her..._

Shepard, snapping back to the present, smiled at Kelly.

"Garrus is tough, he'll be just fine." The words seemed hollow, even to her. Though he had only been awake and walking around for a few days, she already saw that he had changed. He wasn't nearly as uptight as he had been- a good thing- but he also seemed...angry, disillusioned, jaded. Though Lyssa hated to admit it, Joker had really summed up his change in personality best:

"_He finally worked that stick out of his butt, but now he seems hell-bent on beating people to death with it."_

The Yeoman nodded, but as she continued on she sounded more than a little down.

"I suppose. I don't know why, but something about him makes me want to hug him and tell him it'll all be okay..." Lyssa sighed and replied absentmindedly, lost in her own thoughts.

"I know, I feel exactly the same way..." Shepard glanced at Kelly, who looked like she was about to laugh."What? What did I say?" She started to take a sip of her tea.

"Oh, it's nothing. It's just that you two would make a cute couple." Shepard's face turned bright red and she choked on her tea, spilling the rest of it on herself. "Commander! I'm so sorry!" Lyssa waved her off, finally managing to swallow the liquid that had been trying to make it's way into her lungs.

"*cough* It's okay. I do this to myself all the time. Especially if I'm wearing anything white." The white panel of her top was now tinged brown for all of eternity, luckily she had spares. "I was going to take this opportunity to head up to my quarters to rest a bit before we got to the Purgatory anyway. No harm done." The red-head nodded and Shepard turned and walked into the open elevator, waving at Kelly as the door closed. She sighed and slumped against the back panel as soon as she was alone..

_What was that all about? Me and Garrus? That's just...silly. _She reached up and cupped a still-burning cheek with her hand. _Why am I still blushing?_ _He's just a friend...isn't he?_ She shook herself from this train of thought as the elevator opened into her spacious and rather luxurious quarters.

Once inside, it hadn't taken her long to disrobe and slip into the soft embrace of her bed. The lights automatically dimmed and she turned onto her side. Not afraid of the nightmares that she knew would plague her, as she usually was_, _her mind was too busy racingwith thoughts of her Turian mind was working so rapidly that she didn't realize that she was slipping into the terrifying depths of sleep until it was too late...

_Darkness, the walls pressing in, an overwhelming stench of burning meat. Lyssa so badly wanted to leave her hiding place but she knew nothing but death or enslavement awaited her outside._ _She had to stay still, stay silent._ _Time had lost its meaning to her, but she knew she had been down in the cramped darkness underneath the kitchen floor for a very long time. Long enough to hear the constant orchestra of pain and suffering in the form of screams and gunfire_ _change to an overwhelming, suffocating silence._

_Her old life seemed so far away now, had it only been yesterday that she had been safe and happy? Only a week since she had been_ _dancing at the Harvest Ball with Leon Sviet, the best looking guy in the entire colony? Only a few precious days since he shyly and sweetly delivered her first kiss, the lights of the settlement twinkling below them like a sea of stars?_

_Her father had told her to wait, wait until the Alliance got here, before she came out from under cover. But as time silently slithered on she found she could no longer wait, one more second in this box and she would go insane. She carefully pushed on the panel above her and began to panic- it was stuck._

"_No. Let me out! Let me out!" Lyssa pounded at the unflinching steel with her fists until they bled. She had managed to open the panel a tiny crack, something black oozing from the tiny opening. She pressed herself against the wall of the box and curled herself into a ball, wrapping her arms tightly around her legs and pressing her eyes against her knees. _"_Let me out... Mom... Dad... Please let me out." She began to shake and cry as she realized they would never come for her. "I don't want to be in here anymore. Let me out..."She tried to stifle her sobs at the sound of approaching footsteps, but it was too late. They had found her. It was too late, far too late... she was going to die, and she could do nothing to stop it..._

Shepard thrashed around in her sleep, the sheets entangling her as she tossed and turned violently. Sweat began to bead on her brow as the dream changed-warped-into something even more horrible than before...

_Useless, she was absolutely useless. What use is it being a biotic when the barriers you produce are like tissue paper against just a little acid? She had been so sure that she could shield their squad as they moved to better cover- she had been wrong. The screams, oh god, the screams. She had never seen someone be liquefied alive before; the skin bubbled up and just melted off_, _fat and muscle just disappeared, at least by the time it got down to the bone there were no nerve endings left to torture. What the hell were those things? Mindless abominations of mouth and teeth that spit an acid that would eat through nearly anything...nothing in Basic had prepared her for this. _

_What had started out as full marine platoon_ _of fifty_ _was now down to less than a handful: Herself- Private 1__st__ Class Shepard, Corporal Toombs. and Privates 2__nd__ Class Wedge and Biggs. Their plan was simple: fall back to the shuttle. As the fastest runner, Shepard was charged with getting to the shuttle and starting it up while the other three distracted the monster that had chewed through the colonists and other marines. Simple._

_As soon as the door was open she ran. The thing was coming, she knew it by the way the ground shook more and more violently the closer she got to the shuttle. The other three were behind her, she could hear their frantic breathing and footsteps, even above her own. Maybe they wouldn't have to be distractions, as long as they kept running fast enough, they could all safely get to the shuttle. She had almost believed in this possibility when the earth below her shuddered and heaved with such violence that she was knocked to the ground. Lyssa tried frantically to tell her dream-self not to look back, but it was of no use, she always looked back._

_The thresher maw had popped its ugly head out of the ground right behind them, and right below Biggs. She could see him struggling to get free from the teeth he had been impaled on-but it was no use. The acid that coated the things mouth wasted no time in eating him through right across the middle; he fell from the monsters mouth as little more than a screaming stump. Amazingly enough, he was still alive when he hit the ground. He tried to pull himself away from the creature, inch by slow, torturous inch. Wedge slid in the dirt next to him; trying frantically to patch up his friend with medi-gel. _

_Lyssa became aware of someone shaking her, screaming at her, but she was held in a trance. She didn't snap out of it until Biggs and Wedge were consumed, screaming, by a blob of thresher acid; a tiny particle of the potent liquid splashing across the bridge of her nose. She didn't scream at the pain, she was numb, but she slowly turned to look blankly up at Corporal Toombs who promptly slapped her._

"_Shepard! Go! NOW!" He pushed her roughly in the direction of the shuttle, it was so close now. Lyssa nodded and turned; a surge of adrenaline coursing through her body as she began to run. She wanted to get out of here, she needed to get out of here. She could still here the sounds of Corporal Toomb's gunfire as she threw herself against the door of the shuttle, quickly bypassing the security locks with her omni-tool. She felt disconnected from her body as she maneuvered through the rows of seats, until she reached the cockpit. Lyssa strapped herself in the pilot's chair and busily went about getting the damn thing started up. The engines quietly whirred- all lights green for launch. She didn't leave. She had to wait...Toombs would be here...she had to wait. The gunfire had stopped. _

_The shuttle began to shake as underground tremors got closer and closer. Panic and fear wiped out whatever noble intentions she had left. A single flip of a switch was all it took for the small spacecraft to begin hovering off the ground and slowly begin to gain altitude. If she had waited a moment longer the small craft would have fallen right into the cave of teeth that had pushed itself out of the ground beneath the landing pad. As it was, the thresher maw was still close enough to take her down with a single shot of acid, but Lyssa, watching it warily, saw an explosion rip into its side. The monster screamed and turned towards the insect bothering it. Shepard couldn't see who her savior was, but she knew. She knew she had just left him to die._

_Once the shuttle had warmed up it took practically no time at all for it to shoot through the atmosphere and position itself in a low orbit. Lyssa flipped on the emergency beacon and took a deep breath. She had made it, she had survived. As the crippling relief set in, so did the guilt, and the true nature of the horrors she had witnessed. Lyssa doubled over and barely managed to get her helmet off before she vomited on the floor of the cockpit. She began to laugh and cry hysterically, she was the sole survivor. She always was._

_A sound snapped her out of her hysteria- the sound of a large laser weapon charging. The ship was different too, the broken wreck of what must have been a state-of-the-art frigate. She looked up through the gaping hole above her just to see the cruel yellow beam tear into the ship, her ship. The blast knocked her back, throwing her into the cold, dark, silent abyss of space. _

_A leak, her suit had a leak. She scrambled trying to patch it together. She didn't want to die, not again. Her entire body burned from the frozen vacuum of space as her suit depressurized, her lungs screamed for oxygen, she knew she was going to die. After all she had been through, why was it ending now? So unexpectedly, so needlessly. The panic subsided, as did the pain, replaced by a crushing sense of sadness. She just had so much left to do. Cold, she was so cold..._

_Suddenly, there were warm arms pressed against hers, and she was pulled out of the darkness. Lyssa was looking out over a grassy field, sunlight warming her skin, a cool breeze caressing her bare cheek. She was angry though, frustrated with her lack of skill. Garrus really had surprised her though, he was a very patient teacher. He was helping her steady the large, unwieldily rifle from behind her, his arms encircled her, hands on top of hers, showing her with his movements how to lead a target._

"_Tali, send out another drone." Lyssa wondered what he sounded like without the translator, the deep rumble in his chest when he spoke suggested that he sounded much deeper and richer than the voice her translator produced. Tali fiddled with her omni-tool, sending out another pink combat drone that proceeded to zig-zag in a quick pattern across the field. Lyssa put her eye up to the scope, damn that thing was fast. She tried to follow it with the scope, but she was moving it too rapidly, all she saw was a blur. Garrus's grip tightened on her hand and arm._

"_You're too impatient. Follow it slowly, carefully. Like this..." He calmed her jerky movements and gently guided her along the path the drone was taking, once he was certain she was getting the hang of it he let her follow it on her own. "Good...now, you want to aim a little ahead of your target. You need to shoot where it will be, not where it was." She nodded a little, the entirety of her being focused on taking down the scurrying pink drone, she just had to get it this time. She had it lined up perfectly in scope and almost fired, but she waited and aimed just a little ahead of it before firing. The recoil knocked her back against Garrus, but she could still see the drone flash and disappear. She had got it! Excitement welled up inside of her at this momentous event._

"_YES!!! I finally nailed the little bastard!" She dropped the gun and turned around, hugging Garrus tightly. "Thank you! Thank you so much!" Th turian stiffened, but his arms slowly went up to embrace her. He gently pulled her against him, handling her like a piece of glass, like he was afraid that he would break her, or shatter this peaceful, happy moment. Lyssa looked up into his face and was confused by what she saw. She was no expert in turians, but she knew how to read this one. He looked...tormented. Like he was torturing himself for wanting something he couldn't have._

_I remember this...I turned away from him...I won't this time..._

_She pressed her face against his chest and held him even closer and his arms closed around her tighter than before, holding her in a warm, protective cage. The landscape around them faded away, it was just the two of them together in a dark void. Safe.  
_

_I wish I could stay like this forever..._

_

* * *

Writer's Note:_ Hi everyone! Sorry this update took me so long! But as they say. "The world, she is a bitch" :D Thank you for all the great reviews too. They really made my sucktastic week suck a lot less! I already have the outline for the next installment, so I should be able to get it up pretty quick. No more week-long lapses in updates.


	6. Chapter 5 Special

Chapter 5 Special

Dreams: Another Perspective

* * *

_Maybe I should have taken up the Doc's offer of sleeping pills...this is just getting ridiculous..._

Garrus pushed himself up off of his small cot in the crew quarters. Most of the bunks were occupied with soundly-sleeping crewmen. He truly envied them. Since being brought aboard he hadn't been sleeping well, so far the effect to his overall psyche was negligible, but it was still annoying.

At least being awake when most of the crew was asleep had its advantages; it was quiet, almost abandoned, perfect for calibrating the ship's weapon systems without any distraction. The Cerberus crew was surprisingly friendly and well-meaning, but distractions nonetheless, and until he got word on the new Thanix Cannon he had made inquires about through one of his many contacts they were stuck with the Javelin Torpedo Launchers.

He doubted that even with his constant calibrations that they would be able to do much against a Collector vessel, but at least it gave him something to do, something to keep his mind off of Omega. He briefly stopped in his walk towards the Main Battery to gingerly touch the still healing scars on his face. Garrus remembered very little about what had happened after the gunship had taken him down, other than that he had almost died. The shuttle trip to the Normandy was the only memory he could clearly recall...

_I almost wish I had died, damn, who knew getting shot up by a gunship and then blasted with a rocket could hurt so much._ _But her face...I don't know if I've ever seen her cry before. No wait... I have...haven't I?_

Garrus scratched at his head with the distinct feeling that he had forgotten something very important, he knew he had seen her cry, but his brain just refused to let him remember when._ Dammit._ He would be torturing himself for hours over this. That had been the plan anyway. But the glowing blue manifestation of the Normandy's AI caught his attention.

"Mr. Vakarian? May I have a moment of your time?" Garrus looked towards the little blue sphere. He didn't like the idea of having an AI installed on the ship- he just knew Tali would be having a hissy fit if she were here- but so far EDI had done nothing to provoke suspicion. _I bet the Geth didn't either..._

"EDI, if it's about the forward batteries I don't..." EDI cut him off quickly.

"This is a more...personal...matter, ." Garrus cocked his head at the AI, what could it want?

"Commander Shepard's sleeping patterns are disturbing. Most notably an extended period of REM sleep associated with violent physical movements. Shepard's combat capabilities could be compromised and the probability of harming herself inadvertently is..." This time he cut off the AI by raising his hand.

"Why are you telling me all this? Shouldn't you be telling the doctor or someone else at least qualified to deal with this sort of issue?" That seemed to throw the synthetic intelligence for a second, or at the very least made it consider its reply.

"I was forbidden from doing so...Commander Shepard added a small protocol to my programming forbidding me to relaying any information about her sleeping patterns to any member of Cerberus Staff. Which would be anyone but you or Professor Solus. Given your past history with the Commander I felt that you would be the best person to approach with this...delicate matter." He sighed and leaned against the wall behind him, crossing his arms over his chest.

"So? What do you want me to do about it? Start slipping her sedatives at her next meal? What?"

"No. Nothing quite that drastic...yet." _Yet? Seriously? _" I would like for you to act as my...physical manifestation if you will. Until I can reach a long term solution, the most I can ask of you is to keep her from harming herself while she dreams. The door to her quarters is unlocked, please restrain her to the best of your capabilities. She is a very sound sleeper, so physical contact will most likely be ignored as well as most audio emissions. Thank you Mr. Vakarian" Before he could stop her EDI closed the terminal, disappearing. Garrus grumbled to himself, he didn't like it when he was 'volunteered' for something he had no desire to do.

_Damn thing just ordered me to do it. Why even bother asking? Oh well, at least it's not as if I have to listen to it. What was it thinking when it came up with that "solution" anyway? What in the world would make it think that I would be willing to go hold down Shepard like she was a child throwing a tantrum? And I severely doubt that the Commander would like the fact that someone had come into her room uninvited. If I went in there she'd probably shoot me._ _I don't care how sound a sleeper she is, nothing is worth the risk of being shot, or being hit with a fully fledged biotic punch to the face. Nu-uh there is no way I'm going up..._

He blinked when the elevators doors opened, the sound breaking him from his mental rant, he didn't even remember getting on the elevator. _...there?_ He recognized the floor he was on all too easily.

"Dammit." His feet, still moving on their own carried him out of the elevator and into Shepard's room. It was dark, except for the faint blue light from the aquarium. Garrus walked past it, examining the colorful fish swimming contentedly in little schools.

_What exactly am I doing? I need to turn around right now and... _A noise from behind him caught his attention, he looked at the source of the sound and his mandibles flared in distress. _What the..._

The bed was a mess and so was Shepard. What he assumed was the sheet was coiled around her body like a white snake, she had even managed to wrap one of her wrists so tightly that , even in this light, he could see the discoloration due to lack of blood flow. Her small hands were curled into white-knuckled fists, and dark stains on the pale sheet suggested that she had cut herself somehow. Shepard's face was contorted in an expression that fell somewhere between horror and disgust and, despite the room's rather chilly temperature , she was covered with a light sheen of sweat. Garrus kneeled by the bed, she was mumbling something quietly in her sleep, and he bent his head a little closer to hear what so was so feverishly repeating.

"No...don't....back...don't...look...don't watch...don't...want to...see..." Garrus softly touched her bare shoulder, and hissed quietly at how unexpectedly cold she was. He leaned his head towards her ear and very softly murmured her name.

"Shepard..." She suddenly and violently turned away from him, curling into a tight ball, and further entangled herself. He almost got up then, but her next movements kept him frozen in place. Shepard began to thrash wildly in her sleep, her hands flying to the back of her neck, clawing at her skin, clawing at a suit that wasn't there. He reached for her hands but thought better of it when her skin took on a blue hue, he watched uneasily as her uncontrolled biotics hurled a pillow at the wall she was facing. Garrus winced as it exploded into bits of micro-fiber fluff, imagining what he would look like if she turned her powers on him.

Against his better judgement, he stayed and as she gasped for breath Garrus moved unthinkingly onto the bed behind her. He firmly grabbed both her wrists and forced them away from her raw skin, any more digging at her neck and she would have injured herself more than she already had. Deftly slipping one arm underneath her, he immobilized her arms and pulled her against him, resting his forehead on the silky softness of her hair.

"Shh...be calm." Shepard struggled in his grasp, he knew well what nightmare she was having. "It's all right. You're not dying. You're right here...with me." Shepard calmed and he took the opportunity to carefully unwrap the sheet tangled around her wrists, he felt her body relax and breathing slow. She was truly asleep now, no more nightmare, what she dreamt of now Garrus couldn't begin to guess. His duty was done, but he didn't leave, not yet.

He should have been uncomfortable with this whole situation, but he was not. There was no place in the galaxy he would rather be. For the first time in days, he could feel the siren's call of sleep drawing him in.

_I wish I could stay here_, _I know I can't...but still..._

Slowly he slipped his arm out from underneath her and carefully made his way to the edge of the bed. He looked back briefly, relieved to see her peacefully sleeping still. Garrus reclaimed her discarded blanket from the floor and as he stood he covered her with it. He heard her murmur happily in her sleep, it may have been his name, it may not. But he disregarded it and went back to his bunk, suddenly feeling very drowsy.

As they prepared to dock with the Purgatory a few hours later, if any of the crew noticed how unusually rested and chipper the Commander was, or how Garrus looked at her a bit more wistfully than he once had, no one commented. The night before was Garrus and EDI's little secret, maybe someday he would tell Shepard, but that day was far off.

_I wish I could have stayed like that forever..._

_

* * *

Author's Note:_ Hey everyone! Sorry this isn't a full chapter but I've been really sick with the flu for the last week and I dreadfully wished to write a bit of snuggly Garrus goodness after being stuck alone in my bed with fever dreams for the better part of a week. I'm almost fully recovered now, yay! Thanks for the great reviews everyone! ANd I'm sorry for the long lapse in updates _again_.


	7. Super Special 1

Super-Duper Special Series!!!

Super Special #1: New Dress

_They can't be serious..._

Shepard shifted uncomfortably, if she had known helping Samara track down her daughter would have caused this sort of commotion, Lyssa would have just left the damn asari on Illium, possible Justicar-related casualties be damned.

The plan had been deceptively simple: go undercover in a night club to lure the attention of a certain life-sucking homicidal sexual predator. Lyssa had no problem with that. What she did have a problem with, however, was the fashion show she was being forced to put on.

How word got around that the Commander was going to be prancing about in girly clothes, she didn't know (probably Joker), but once the secret was out, Shepard found herself bombarded by female members of the crew. They had basically bullied her into letting them 'help' her present herself as appetizing a dish as possible.

So here she was, modeling a sequined monstrosity that left less to the imagination than lingerie, with five women debating whether or not the gold matched her skin tone(it didn't). Kelly she would have expected to be in on this, but not Tali or Jack, and especially not Doctor Chakwas. Samara was commenting on what Morinth would find most appealing in a disturbingly clinical sort of way, like discussing what seasoning would be best on an especially tempting piece of steak.

"Hmm, I don't think warm colors work well on her..." Tali and Jack nodded their agreement with Kelly.

"Yeah, but the length is fucking fantastic. Obviously a 'Come Fuck Me Now' dress." Lyssa sighed, this whole thing was making her horribly uncomfortable, she really wasn't a dress kind of girl, especially not this kind of dress.

"No. It will make her seem desperate. Morinth likes a challenge. Something sexy, but not too revealing, nor anything too demure would be best." Tali dug through the discarded dresses on the floor and pulled out a slinky, silver garment that Shepard recognized as the skin-tight, floor-length horror that she had been forced to parade in not thirty minutes before.

"I still like this one best! It made her look dangerous but pretty!" Jack scoffed at Tali.

"Yeah, dangerous like a fucking silver-plated nun." Chakwas patted Tali on the arm consolingly

"It is a very lovely dress, but it's too formal, my dear." _Formal? Are you kidding me?_ "No I think something like this would be better."The Doctor held up what looked like a jumpsuit made out of some clingy material with huge cutouts on the side and back. _Oh, Maker_...

Almost as if she had been summoned by Lyssa's mental anguish alone, Miranda stepped through the threshold into Shepard's quarters and gave each and every one of Lyssa's tormentors an icy glare.

"Out. Now." Jack almost said something, but Miranda was operating at full-on scary mode, so the psychotic biotic _Hey, that rhymes..._ stood up and left with a 'huff', the others quickly following her. "Don't worry you'll get to see her when I'm done. Hurry up." _When she's done? What is she going to do to me?_

Miranda descended upon the commander, like a plague.

* * *

An hour passed, and nearly the entire crew had found some excuse to be loitering on the CIC deck. If anyone asked, Garrus had been merely going to the armory to calibrate his rifle. Truthfully, he was rather excited to see what the Commander would look like 'dressed up'. The outfits human females chose to don when they were 'dressed to impress' were quite...interesting. There was just such a variety in taste.

Asari, Turians, Salerians, Elcor...All seemed to find a certain aesthetic pleasing- that's not to say they all wore the same things. For example, Asari embraced a host of different colors and patterns, but they generally liked the most form-fitting of clothing and Turian women always put an emphasis on the waist. Human women, on the other hand, all seemed to like different things. One woman could find nothing but red clothing with short, tight, skirts attractive, while another would like nothing but black pants, then there would be a third one that liked both and pointy shoes.

Garrus noted with both satisfaction and jealousy that he was not the only male in attendance. Jacob, Joker, and Thane had also found themselves waiting for Shepard's big reveal. For some reason, he had started to view them as competition, Thane more so than Jacob or Joker. Sure, Jacob was the same species as....

"_C'mon Garrus, you can call me Lyssa, you know."_

...Lyssa, but he had seen that their interactions were nothing but friendly. Joker was...well Joker. But Thane on the other hand...well, he was closer to home, so to speak, than Garrus himself was, and the way the other women on board seemed to fawn over him irked the turian. Maybe Shepard had been joking when she suggested that the two of them...blow off steam...together and he'd wake up one day to find her canoodling with the drell assassin. Garrus had to keep himself from growling at the mental image.

Fortunatly, the sound of the elevator broke his concentration. The excitement in the room was almost palpable, with Tali and Kelly chattering wildly about what Shepard might have chosen. Once the door opened the room went silent.

_Oh..._

She looked like some sort of deadly sex-goddess. Garrus had thought she was attractive before, but in this...no hot-blooded male (heck even the cold-blooded ones) could fault him for his interest. The dress itself was mainly composed of several overlapping layers of some thin, almost transparent, black fabric that accentuated every move her body made, flowing over her curves like smoke over water. It was long, and it was only when she moved that one noticed that the skirt was slit up to her thighs on both sides, giving a tantalizing flash of her temptingly pale, soft skin. From her waist up and covering her breasts was some sort of corset made out of a wide silk ribbon wrapped tightly around her several times, her collarbone and arms were left mostly bare, with the exception of a few shiny black stone bracelets on her left wrist.

As her blue eyes encircled with smoky grey shadow burned into him, Garrus was struck with one overwhelming thought...

_Damn._

Shepard glided past them all, pausing near the galaxy map to look at them with a faintly amused expression.

"Samara? Garrus? Aren't you coming?" Garrus blinked.

"I am?" Her bell-like laughter echoed in the quiet.

"Of course. I need someone to watch my back." She walked towards the door that would lead into the Normandy's hangar on Omega, her hips swaying in a very...tantalizing fashion.

_Oh, I'll be watching it..._

Samara chuckled and followed her. Garrus wasted no time in catching up, he wanted to maintain his envy-worthy view. It wasn't until the three of them had leftt hat someone finally spoke, though it should be noted that the three males in attendance all had the same thought as Garrus went to follow the commander...

_Lucky bastard._

"Nice job, cheerleader. Even I'd be tempted to hit that." Miranda sighed with a self-satisfied smirk curling her lips.

"Sometimes I even amaze myself." Kelly and Tali, clapped at her genius. Meanwhile, Joker looked up.

"EDI, tell me you got a picture of that." The AI's blue, spherical manifestation popped out of a console nearthe elevator.

"From five different angles."As one, Joker, Jacob, and Thane made the same request.

"Send me a copy."


	8. Super Special 2

Super-Duper Special Series!!!

Super Special #2 : Fairy Tale

* * *

_Ah...nothing like a little well-deserved downtime to do a body good! I'm almost happy that getting back to the Citadel is going to take so long..._

Lyssa was sitting on her bed, daintily flipping throughthe pages of one of her most adored books, skimming over the boring bits and just reading her favorite parts_._ She was on the alert for anyindication of possible intrusion, she was a little embarrassed about her overwhelming love, more of an addiction really, of old-school fantasy novels, they just didn't fit the 'Commander Shepard" image the crew had of her.

This particular one was about a noblewoman slaying a dragon to save her kingdom...and the she read about the heroine's final showdown with the destructive beast_ ,_a thought popped into her head...

_I wonder if , in any of these old stories, that the protagonist tells the prince to shove off and runs off with the dragon? Sure the lady-knight and the dragon don't have much in common physically, but one would think that eventually an especially bright and feisty maiden would value the companionship and personality of such a strong, majestic, intelligent creature over the merely good-looking prince..._

Lyssa sighed and flopped back onto her bed,a wave of drowsiness washing over Commander yawned, her body yearning for a nap.

_Surely...there has to be one..._

That was her last thought as she slipped into slumber...

* * *

_Once upon a time, there was a great kingdom, full of life and wonder. All felt very blessed for every day they were able to spend in such a place. But all was not well in this majestic kingdom, for the frightening nation to the north was preparing for an onslaught. Though the country of light was well fortified against attack, their dark cousins had at their disposal a pair of horrifying twin beasts known only as Harbinger and Sovereign._

_In the wake of these beasts' appearance King Anderson sent out the call for his nation's greatest hero... the lady Lyssa Shepard. It is when Lyssa meets with the King's greatest adviser, The Illustrious Magician, that our story begins..._

"You can't be serious!How do you expect me to defeat those two monstrosities by myself!?" Lyssa glared at the extravagantly dressed man on the mini-throne_ (_only the king got to sit on the big throne)_._

"Fu fu fu fu fu " He took a long puff of his cigarette. "Well...you could start by taking off that unflattering armor..." TIM's beautiful, brilliant assistant Miranda smacked him with a rolled-up newspaper and cleared her throat.

"What The Illustrious Magician means to say is that you will not be facing these beasts alone. I shall accompany you, as will the King's finest knights, Jacob and , since the road to those creature's lair is long,we are sure to encounter allies on our path." Lyssa adjusted her engraved silver armor and sighed.

"What do I get out of all of this anyway?" The Illustrious Magician took a long drag from his cigarette and stood up with a mischievous grin on his face.

"I'm glad you asked that!_" _With a sparkling flourish he tore the red velvet covering off of the strange human-sized object in the middle of the room revealing...

"*gasp* Prince Alenko!_" _Lyssa firmly latched onto the tall, dark, and handsome prince._ "_ Do I keep him!? Really!? DEAL!"Miranda just sighed.

_And so, with our heroine satisfied with her promised boon, Lyssa set off to battle the fearsome monsters to the north_ _with her allies in tow: the talented sorceress Miranda_ _, the brave, feisty knight Ashley_, _and the totally buff, blandly likable shadow knight Jacob..._

"Hey! Why am I the shadow knight!? This is because I'm black isn't it!?"

_No! It's because..._

"Yeah, right. And what the hell is that 'blandly likable' description for? I'll have you know I have just as many fangirls as that lizard Thane does!"

_Sure you do...Now shut up so I can get on with the story!_

"Oh, you are so hearing from my lawyer after this..."

_*cough* Now where was I...Oh yes..._

_The great hero Lyssa Shepard embarked on her journey with her companions in tow, and as Miranda had said, our heroine was able to recruit many strong allies on her way. First there was Joker, who, though by himself was of no great use_, _brought with him the powerful, talking warhorse EDI._

"A talking horse? That's original..."

_Shut up! You're lucky that you even got a part. At least you get some sort of physical manifestation beyond a blue beach ball._

"*sigh* Fine, get on with it then."

_Well, now that I have your permission..._

_The next were a pair of barbarian warriors from the great clan of Urdnot: Wrex and Grunt._

"Wait, wasn't I created in a tube?"

_Not in this dream you weren't._

"Oh. Can I kill something yet?"

_...then there was the wise, and unexpectedly_ _deadly sage, Samara..._

_...no objections to that?_

"None whatsoever. Very nice."

_Thank you. Trailing on Samara's coattails was her apprentice Liara-_

"I'm just happy to be here."

_Of course you are... _

_Lyssa was also able to recruit the greatest alchemist in all the world, Mordin Solus along with his assistant, the mechanical genius Tali. Our hero was even able to persuade the clinically insane, yet insanely powerful Witch of the Northern Wastes, Jack, to her cause..._

"Hey! It's not my fault I'm crazy! I was abused as a child."

_Doesn't change the fact that you need to be medicated._

"Fuck you!"

_Hey it's better than describing you as "The crazy bitch-queen of a hollowed-out tree stump who has no friends" isn't it?_

"I fucking hate you..."

_Continuing on..._

_Our hero was also able to recruit the bad-ass, pheromone-oozing_ _assassin_ _Thane._ _With his plush, pillowy lips, perfect posture_, _and deep, gravelly, sexy voice...Shepard! What are you doing!?_

Lyssa looked up to where she was pretty sure the disembodied voice of the narrator was coming from.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" What it looked like was Shepard pinning a half-naked Thane to the ground.

_This is NOT a sex dream! Now stop trying to rape him!_

Lyssa just shrugged.

"You can't rape the willing."

_Jesus, the people I have to work with...I said STOP THAT!_

"Tch. This is my dream and I'll do what I want!" Lyssa was promptly smacked by a rolled-up newspaper that appeared from nowhere. "Ow! Fine, fine! No sexually assaulting Thane. Happy now?"

_Yes. Now to get on with the story..._

_Though the Lady Lyssa had assembled this varied group of adventurers, there was one individual that she wanted, no, needed by her side as she went to face her almost certain doom, her old friend and companion from her last kingdom-saving adventure, the dragon Garrus. He had helped her take down a much older, more powerful dragon than he, by the name of Saren. Garrus had been young, and had looked up to Shepard as an idol. Strange, given his people's general resentment towards her kind, but he never seemed to hold that against her._

_Though they were two totally different creatures, Lyssa found that she cared for Garrus more than any human. She had not seen him for nearly two years, and the feelings she thought had faded came fully back to life once she laid eyes on him again. Lyssa and her companions saved him from a very large and angry band of mercenaries and from then on it was just like old times again. Or at least that was the lie she told herself._

_Garrus had changed. He had become more angry and bitter, but underneath the new hardened exterior he had come to realize just how much he cared for the human woman who led him into battle once again. He had resolved not to tell Lyssa of his feelings for her, but one night in camp, he could no longer control himself..._

Garrus was curled by the fire, his long tail wrapped around him, but the slightly-larger-than-man-sized dragon was not asleep. He and Shepard were chatting about the mission while the others slept.

"So how exactly did they convince you to take on this task?" Lyssa mumbled something incomprehensible. "What was that? I couldn't hear you..."She sighed.

"They...well...hmm...this is rather embarrassing, but they said I could marry Prince Alenko_..." _Garrus's head snapped up and her turned to look at her, his mandibles flaring out in shock.

"WHAT!? You agreed to risk your life for the opportunity to marry _him_!?" He stood on his hind legs and began to pace. "Men like him are a dime-a-dozen! The man is so stiff with duty and honor that it infuriates me just being in a room with him!I would think it would be more enjoyable to joined to a plank of wood for life than a man like that." Shepard stood up, her hands defiantly placed on her hips.

"And what would a dragon know of the attractiveness of a human man hmm? For your information, he is quite handsome by human standards! Yes, he can be a bit bland at times, but he's very kind and he cares for me! If it hadn't been against the King's orders he would have followed me into the hell we're about to face!" Garrus turned on her, his fury almost tangible.

"Orders be damned! If he truly loved you ,as you say he does, he would have told the King to go fuck himself! No punishment could have been great enough to keep me from protecting the woman I love!" He stalked towards the small human woman and, without warning, he wrapped his tail around her waist.

"Garrus! What're you..." He pulled her to him and embraced her tightly.

"I will not let him take you from me again..." Lyssa found herself hugging him back as his deep growl vibrated through her. "He can't have you. You're mine." Shepard's heart felt as if it were being torn in two_, _she could not deny that what she felt for Garrus was mere friendship any longer, but they were just so different. Yet...she was starting to find that she did not care, for a long time now he had stopped being a 'dragon' and was just Garrus.

_Lyssa made no move to break away from him and so they stood in place, their bodies intertwined, for a long while. The silence was heavy with feelings neither of them could find words to express. It was not until the others began to wake that they finally released one another, if any of their comrades noticed that the two of them were quieter and more withdrawn than usual, none made any comment..._

_And so, they finally came to the lair of the unspeakable horrors, Harbinger and Sovereign. And, though the squid-beasts were almost older than time itself_, _they fell readily to Shepard's blade and Garrus's fire. So, the groups's task complete, they returned to the capital_ _victorious_.

_But all was not well, a cloud still hung over Lyssa's pretty head. She and Garrus had never resolved the issue he had presented her with not-so-many nights ago. Her heart and mind had constantly been at war with each other since that evening. But as Prince Alenko went on bended knee before her in the middle of the grand ballroom during the celebration gala that had been quickly arranged, Lyssa knew she could say only one thing..._

"No!" She turned away from the handsome man and fled, seeking the one she truly wanted in the crowd. She became frantic when she couldn't find him among the countless strange faces. Lyssa turned in circles for what seemed an eternity, seeking him out, but it wasn't until Thane grasped her shoulder and turned her towards a newly appeared doorway that she knew exactly where she needed to go. Lyssa ran through the doorway, and the castle slowly disappeared, replaced with a large, nearly empty, grass field with no illumination but the full moon and stars overhead. She saw her beloved's silver-lined silhouette in front of her and cried out...

"Garrus!!!!" The humanoid dragon stopped in his tracks and turned around as she approached.

"Lyssa? What are you..." His head drooped as he took in the full spectacle of the woman before him. Her full, floaty gray ballgown twinkled in the gentle moonlight like a sea of stars. "You look beautiful..that dress makes you look....like a princess should." His voice was dripping with misery as he said this, but all Lyssa could do was smile.

"Then maybe I should take it off then. I'm no princess, and I have no desire to be one." She quickly closed the remaining distance between the two of them. Lyssa reached up to lightly trail her fingers along his scarred face. "I'd much rather be the maiden captured by the dragon...forever." Garrus gently put his arms around her waist and brought her close before bowing his head to touch her forehead with his.

"I'll hold you to that..."

_And they lived..._

_

* * *

_

Lyssa woke up with an angry groan, already the dream was quickly fading from her memory, but she had the distinct impression that it had been a very good dream. What had awakened her was the sound of someone knocking...no, pounding, at her door. She sat up and meandered to the door, her mind trapped in a half-dreaming haze.

The door slid open and Garrus was the face that greeted her on the other side. He stared blankly for a moment at the t-shirt and underwear garbed Commander Shepard, and almost looked as if he were about to speak, but Lyssa's still half-asleep mind would have none of that. The barely dressed woman fell onto Garrus, trapping him in an unexpected embrace. Without thinking she muttered something entirely strange to the Turian...

"The maiden captured by the dragon..." The sleepy Lyssa smiled absent-mindedly and sighed contentedly, before dozing off once again in his warm, strong arms

Garrus's chuckle rumbled deep in his chest at this utterly absurd, yet adorable behavior. He carried her back to her bed and snuggled next to her for a few precious moments.

_I guess telling her about the new cannons will have to wait...oh well._

* * *

_Author's Note:_ Hi everyone! Just wanted to say I hope you're all liking my trilogy of light-hearted GarrusxShepard one-shots. I needed to take a break from the drama and write something fun, since my own week was nothing if not overly-dramatic. By the way, if you all happen to like the normal chapters of "Who Believes in Curses Anyway?" be sure to check out my new Dragon Age: Origins fanfic, "A Promise Under the Moonlight" AlistairxFemSurana yummyness!

Well I'm off! Til next time everyone!

P.S. The next Super Special will be the last, then I'll get back to work on the real chapters 6, 7, 8, & 9. ^_^


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